Martha Holbrow
Sandler '88 has been named executive director
of On The Rise, Inc., a day program in Cambridge, Mass.,
for women who are homeless or in crisis. On The Rise offers
clothes, meals and a refuge from domestic violence to more
than 300 women in the Cambridge-Boston area. It also offers
access to services, such as medical care, addiction treatment
and counseling, legal advice and job-hunting. Since 2003,
Sandler has served as financial officer for On the Rise,
and as a volunteer, as well as the board’s treasurer and
president. Sandler comments that On The Rise's mission
is similar to what Sophia Smith had in mind for Smith when
she wrote her will in 1870: "to develop as fully as may
be the powers of womanhood, and furnish women with the
means of usefulness, happiness and honor, now withheld
from them."

Darcy Rendon ’11 is one of 50 outstanding history students nationwide to be named a 2009 Gilder Lehrman One-Week History Scholar by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The institute promotes the study and affinity for American history, serving teachers, students, scholars and the general public. Its holdings include signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment, as well as a rare printed copy of the first draft of the U.S. Constitution and letters written by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The One-Week Scholars participated in a weeklong program in New York City in which they met with eminent historians and were granted access to valuable historical archives and museums in the region.

Helen Searing, Alice Pratt Brown Professor Emerita of Art, was recently granted an Emeritus Fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of her current project, a biography of Henry-Russell Hitchcock, a renowned scholar of architectural history, and Searing’s predecessor on the Smith faculty. Searing’s fellowship is the second in two years for Smith emeritus faculty; Karl Donfried was a recipient of the 2008 Emeritus Fellowship.

Justin Cammy, assistant professor of Jewish studies, will assume a teaching post this fall at the Program on the Holocaust in American and World Culture at the University of California, Los Angeles. He will serve on the faculty as part of a broad program supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Cammy, who will also serve as an assistant professor of English, will teach two seminars on Yiddish literature. “My presence there is meant to enhance the offerings in Yiddish literature and culture so that discussions regarding the Holocaust focus not only on the events of the war itself but on the lives, cultures and language destroyed by it,” explained Cammy.

Kate Queeney,
associate professor of chemistry, had never won a road race
or triathlon until this year. But after a rigorous training
program (with Martha
Grinnell ’91), the 39-year-old mother from Amherst has now
won two events. On July 5, Queeney took first in the Whately
Police Sprint Triathlon, covering the half-mile swim,
14-mile bike ride and 3-mile run in one hour, 21 minutes,
16 seconds. Queeney competed in her first triathlon in 2004
and her second four years later.

People News is a column for publicizing
the achievements, distinctions and notable activities of people in the Smith
community, PeopleNews welcomes your submissions. If you -- or someone you know
in the Smith community -- have recently received an award, participated in
an interesting event, or are involved in an important endeavor, please
let us know.